The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1887-09-21
..IT is NEVER TOO LATE TO MEND. ~


house are great people to negotiate a loan
that they never intend to pay. Said a
stranger in Scotland, "what are all those
people rushing up the street fOr?' The re-
ply was that a man was to be hung on the
common for stealing sheep" Tut, tut"
mused the sagaciOus Scot: ''pOor. stupid
mon, why did he not BUY THEM AND NEV-
EIt PAY FOR THEM"
1t is estimated that thousands of dollars
are stolen from the government every year
by the second use of postage stamps, and
the. good man who grasses the ink from a
stamp hates vice and crime and denounces
it at every convenient opportunity, with
long -winded vOlubility, and is at the same
time unaware of the fact that he bears Il
distant relationship to the mail rObber.
And so in some prisons the prisoner is
sent there for being dishonest He is COM
PEELED to use sham material in the manu-
facture of goods that will be palmed off by
the shining lights OF honor who lease their
labor for what it is not, and pay the state
for his labor i'm money that was obtained by
false pretense from the citizens that state
was bound to protect and who is thus,
through the power of bOOdlers, robbed in two
ways at the same time-by competition and
by fraud-instead of getting protection
against thieves.
And so down the long list of polite meth
Ods The result is all the same. Men
are all knaves." They only differ in their
methods. Even the good farmer who is so
celebrated for his simplicity and honesty
Wosld skin you out of your eyes on a horse
dicker or some agricultural transaction.
And SO say it comes with very bad grace
from the thief. this condemnation of the
convicted thief-like lion feasting on a
deer and upbrading the poor cat for mousse
stealing. If all methods OF stealing were
labeled as such, how many man who
stands up now in all his righteousness
would be compelled to take his place ''wd
de gang" from the poorest IabOrer up to
the ''clOth." And. by the way, the ranks
of that profession would be terribly
thnned out if the souls of men, and the
veal of the race, were the only remunera-
tiOns for their self sacrifice, "Oh. what a
falling off there would be- And what per-
son (in the possession of common sense)
ever supposed that the average lawyer of
to-day could follow his profession under the
strict principles of honesty and be success
full? Why, the very cream of his practice
is the helping of knaves to defeat the ends
of justice-helping them to profit and re-
venge by lies, quibbles and sOphisrry, max
ing the worse appear the better side. For
it is the boast of the very pioneers of law
and OratOry. (the Greek SOphists) that they
taught their students to make the worse ap-
pear the better side.
But while robbery. inhumanity and injus-
tice is always base and dSpicable. under
whatever guise it may appear, still, with
out attempting to prop up the rotten walls
of the Shiny ediice, [ must say that it
would be advisable for people who are
addicted to the habit of throwing stones to
make sure that their little habitatiOn is
made of some material less brittle than
glass. The world has evidently not adj
vanced in this respect since Shakespere's
day:
Through tattered clothes small vices do appear:
Robes and furred gowns hide all Plate sin with
gold
And the strong lance of Justice. hurtless breaks:
Arm it in rags, pigmys straw doth pierce it,"
Sept II. f. NJ.